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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
Vol. 3 Edition 6
The glass is half full
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’Burg folks get their say on drinking water issue By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com
Wallaceburg ratepayers will have a chance to provide input on where their drinking water will come from in the future. Wallaceburg Coun. Jeff Wesley made sure of that at Thursday’s Public Utilities Commission meeting. The PUC board was considering holding its next meeting in Wallaceburg, and inviting the public to come and hear an update from the consulting firm hired to look at options. The problem is the public wasn’t going to get an opportunity to speak. The municipality hired Stantec Consulting out of Windsor to conduct a class environmental assessment of the Wallaceburg and area water supply system. In late November, it recommended shutting down the Wallaceburg treatment plant and pumping water, which would originate in Lake Erie, from the Chatham plant. That, plus limited public input, incensed many Wallaceburg residents. “The last Wallaceburg public meeting was very flawed,” Wesley said. “Stantec needs to have
another one and listen to what the people say. The public’s concerns did not get addressed.” Wesley and PUC general manager Tom Kissner will now meet to go over every public concern, before taking them to Stantec. Wesley said it is imperative the public have its say, and receive feedback. “We’ve got to get this process right. Stantec is going to meet with the public to answer all issues raised. There are a lot of questions and concerns. A lot of people have provided input, but no one has received any answers.” He said the source of the drinking water is an issue, as many would prefer getting it from Lake Huron rather than Lake Erie, where recent summers have caused algae blooms, leading to smell, taste and colour concerns with Chatham’s drinking water. As well, Wesley said Wallaceburg would be at the end of a long pipe, leaving little in the way of options if expansion was ever desired. He added there hasn’t been an issue in Wallaceburg that “has galvanized so many people since the hospital.”
Why Have This?
Contributed image
Sarah Donais, Grade 12, CKSS Equity & Social Justice class, is pictured with her creation for Operation Snowman, a project to beat the winter blahs for residents at Meadow Park Nursing Home.
They’re snow kind
By Mary Beth Corcoran mary@chathamvoice.com
Students at Chatham-Kent Secondary School are engaging in winter fun with a purpose with ‘Operation Snowman’ at Meadow Park Nursing Home in Chatham, according to teacher Stephanie Kennedy. With the winter snowscape leaving residents very little to look at out the windows, Meadow Park volunteer co-ordinator Lydia Swant challenged volunteers to perk up the view for residents.
When You Can Have This!
Swant said snowmen have been popping up all over the place, and Kennedy’s social justice class was interested in helping, turning the fun into a class assignment. “We did this in conjunction with International Random Act of Kindness Week to spread some love in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day,” Kennedy explained. The students had until Family Day to build a snowman, take a picture and post it to Google Classroom. Student Kadianne Webb loved the overall experi-
Which do you prefer?
ence. “This was such a fabulous assignment. It brought back childhood memories and I was able to make new ones with my family,” she said. “The residents gathered around to watch us make them outside of their windows. It’s amazing to think that my actions can so greatly impact others in our community, and class projects can be so meaningful.” Kennedy said her students really embraced the project. “It’s amazing to see the capacity my students
have for active citizenship and social change. It’s so, so very important in our world,” she said. “They are truly inspiring, and its great to see their positive actions butterfly into so many more in our community through our new initiative, Do Something CK.” That new project recently launched on Twitter @ dosomethingck and on a Facebook page, Do Something CK, where they challenge the community to complete Random Act of Kindness assignments and post pictures to the group’s Facebook page.
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